British Avant Garde Rock Pioneer Lindsay Cooper Dies at 62

Lindsay Cooper
Lindsay Cooper
English bassoon and oboe player, and composer Lindsay Cooper died September 18th, 2013 of multiple sclerosis.

Lindsay Cooper played in groundbreaking Canterbury and avant-garde rock and jazz bands in the UK, including Henry Cow, Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians. She appeared on Mike Oldfield’s 1974 album Hergest Ridge.

She collaborated with many musicians, including Chris Cutler and Sally Potter, and co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group. She wrote soundtracks for film and TV and a song cycle Oh Moscow which was performed live around the world in 1987.

Lindsay Cooper’s solo albums include Rags (1980), The Gold Diggers (1983) and Music For Other Occasions (1986).

Cooper was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1970s, but did not disclose it to the musical community until the late 1990s when her illness prevented her from performing live.

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